


The Edge of Tonight

by westgate



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Keith comforts him, M/M, Nightmare, Nightmares, SHEITH - Freeform, Shiro is having bad nightmares, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-21 04:03:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9530729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westgate/pseuds/westgate
Summary: With all of the things Shiro has been through, it comes as no surprise that he has nightmares about the horrors of his past.





	

There’s a roar of applause from the stands as Shiro moves to stand and wipe the blood from his face. He grabs his shoulder, which he’s fairly positive is dislocated. He has to hold it in place to keep the white-hot searing pain at bay. He’s going to have to pop it back into the socket himself; they don’t care whether he lives or dies, he’s there for their entertainment. It hurts to breathe, he probably cracked one of his ribs in the fall as the monster flung him across the room. But that doesn’t matter now: against all odds, he’s alive. For now.

Blinding flashes of purple. He thrashes wildly against his restraints. He’s shivering - a mix of the cold metal table against his bare back, and his sheer panic. He screams, but it’s muted against the mask covering the lower half of his face. He has never felt this terrified in his entire life. His world fades to black.

His throat is raw from screaming. Tears fall freely from his eyes, and all he can see is a blinding white light. They whisper around him.

“We might have been wrong about him. Will he join the list of others who did not make it through?”

“Only time will tell.”

His breathing comes in shallow pants. His world is a fuzzy black, as he blinks his eyes and squints to try and see past the haze. He can feel his sweat soaked hair plastered to the back of his neck, and the dull ache in all of his joints. There is an unfamiliar numbness. His mouth is dry, and he licks at his painfully chapped lips. He’s still restrained, but they have been loosened so that he can maneuver himself into a slightly more comfortable position.

It is when he glances down at his right arm that he turns his head and immediately dry heaves, leaning his head off the side of the table. There’s nothing in his stomach, and his raw throat now feels acidic. His already heavy breathing becomes more panicked, as he struggles to gasp for air.

His arm.

He looks down at where his flesh meets the metal and lets out a deafening yell. There is high pitched, icy laughter in the background…

>>>

Shiro awoke in a cold sweat. Heart hammering in his chest, it took him a moment to gain his bearings as his eyes struggled to focus in the dark room. It was the hand rubbing soothing circles onto his bare chest that grounded him and brought him back down. He was in his room, in his bed with Keith, who was speaking to him in a hushed tender voice: “Shhh, Shiro you’re okay. It’s just a nightmare. You’re okay. I’m here. _Shhhhh_.”

They lay like that for a moment as Shiro’s breathing evened out and he attempted to regain his composure.

Shiro took his boyfriend’s hand in his own and squeezed, then lifted it to his mouth to give it a tender kiss. He turned to his side and looked up at Keith, who was almost angelic in the dim blue glow that came from the alarm clock on the nightstand.Keith, who had propped himself up in bed, pulled Shiro closer to him to rest the taller boy’s head against his shoulder. He took the opportunity to place a sweet kiss on the top of Shiro’s head and then threaded his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair to calm him further.

It was Shiro who broke their silence. “Keith.” His own voice sounded foreign to him, strained and raspy. He had been yelling in his dream -had he also been yelling in his sleep? He must have been quite the terrifying sight.

Keith knit his eyebrows together in concern but responded in a warm, soft voice. “I’m here. Do you want to talk about it?”

He struggled at first to find his words. Shiro trained himself to be hesitant in being truly open and honest about his feelings, but with Keith it was different. Shiro was the leader of their group, the one who was supposed to have his act together. The other paladins looked to Shiro in times of distress and sought his guidance and advice. Which was why he never allowed his other team members, with the exception of Keith, to see this vulnerable side of him. He was meant to inspire and lead -the fate of the galaxy literally depended on it. How would they succeed in their fight if his team members knew just how scared he really was?

But then there was Keith.

Keith, who looked past the idealized version of Shiro and saw him for what he really was: a person, flaws and all.

Keith, who loved him for his flaws, and who was there every step of the way supporting Shiro. Wherever he went, Keith would follow him without a second thought and would love him unconditionally.

Keith, who made Shiro feel safe, despite all of the horrors lurking just outside of their ship.

He rested his head on Keith’ shoulder, as Keith continued to play with his hair. “I don’t think they’re nightmares,” he said quietly. His voice sounded so small. He blinked back the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.

“I think they’re memories.”

The fingers carding through his hair came to a halt, and he felt Keith tense next to him.

“ _Shiro_ ,” Keith exhaled, startled by the revelation. He could tell that Keith was trying to remain calm, but his voice betrayed him: he sounded hurt, scared even.

Keith reached down to gently cup his chin, and turn Shiro’s face so they were eye to eye. They rested his foreheads together, and Keith wrapped him in a deep embrace. Here in this moment, he felt secure in Keith’s arms.

The pads of Keith’s thumbs traced gentle circles over his jaw. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked again, this time more hesitant.

He did, knew that he needed to, but not now. The memory was a lot for him to take in, overwhelming and upsetting, and what he needed right now was comfort. Keith understood -he always did -and didn’t press the matter further.

Instead, he squeezed onto Shiro tighter as he enveloped him in a warm embrace. “I will always be here to listen.”

They lay in each other’s arms in silence for some time, the only sound in the air their steady breathing. Shiro lay awake and stared at the ceiling; if he closed his eyes he could still see the harsh purple light. Instead, he occupied his mind with thoughts of the beautiful boy who rested beside him.

The paladin quarters were tight and cramped, definitely not meant for sharing, but when they were wrapped up in one another the space did not feel so small. These days Keith spent more time in Shiro’s bed than he did his own; Shiro found he slept better with his boyfriend by his side.

There was a time Shiro would have been scared by the fact that someone had found his way into his heart so fast. Instead, Shiro now found it to be a comfort, as if he was always meant to be there. Though they had only been together a short while, it felt as if they had been together for a lifetime. Keith was such an integral part of his life, and Shiro struggled to imagine what life would be like without him.

Keith’s voice stirred him from his thoughts. “I can hear you thinking from over here,” he said fondly. “You should try and get some rest.” He took the opportunity to place gentle kisses across his jaw and along his collarbone.

Shiro hummed in response.

“Hey, Shiro?” The way Keith said his name was so full of love, and it made his heart swell. He would never get tired of hearing his own name spill from those lips.

“Mhmm?” He grabbed Keith’s hand and laced their fingers together.

“We’re going to get through this. You’re going to get through this. We’re going to put a stop to this once and for all so that no one else has to suffer like you did.”

Keith leaned over and found his lips with his own. The kiss started slow and gentle, almost as if Keith was afraid to break him, asking him silently “Is this okay?” When But Shiro met him with enthusiasm, he deepened the kiss until they were completely drowning in each other and left breathless.

He took Shiro’s face in his hands so that they held each other’s gaze. “You are so brave, and strong, and I have complete and faith that you can do this. And you won’t be alone. You have a team of people who love you. We won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

Another kiss, slow and devoted and loving. “ _I_ won’t let anything happen to you.”

And Shiro believed him. With Keith by his side, he felt like he could take on the world. He couldn’t rewrite the horrors of his past, but together they could create a beautiful future. He fell asleep with Keith’s arms tight around his waist, feeling safer than he had ever felt before.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for the support! [Come say hi on Tumblr](http://www.westgates.tumblr.com) and follow for updates! I am literally always down to talk about these beautiful boys.
> 
> This is my first time writing for this fandom so please be gentle. 
> 
> Shoutout to goldenringboy for being a giant enabler and for also being my wonderful beta


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